Aeronautical information is commonly supplied to the crew. This of course relates to weather information, but also to the other dynamic information likely to be encountered during the flight:                state of the air spaces traversed (opening or closing times),        MTO acronym for the expression Meteo: time projection of the minimum heights and distances with regard to the visibility in the approach phase (such as for example the back-up airports which must be adapted to the ETOPS criteria (Extended range Twin engine Operation Performance Standards, procedure allowing navigation in the case of an engine failure, with a given maximum time separation with respect to the support airports, this time separation being strongly linked to the force of the winds encountered) at the predicted potential landing time),        representation of the time windows linked to the slots for landing or take-off,        opening times of the airports (the Air France flight Tokyo—CDG for example flies very slowly in order to comply with the closing times of Tokyo and the opening times of Roissy),        NOTAMs (acronym for the expression “Notification to AirMen”) informing of particular activities within an area at a given time (for example, maintenance of a radio-navigation beacon within a given area for a given period of time),        status of the satellite constellations used for calculating the position within a given area,        opening/closing times of countries flown over,        night start/end points,        predicted traffic,        times of validity of the oceanic tracks,        wind and temperature forecasts by hour and altitudes,        forecasts of other weather phenomena (clouds, ice formation regions, wet areas, storms, turbulence),        in the case of tactical missions, variation of the hazards over time (anti-missile batteries, activation of detection systems, variation with time of the cloud cover for systems requiring vision, start/end of night, rendez-vous times with other aircraft for refuelling, patrol flights, etc.),        window for rendez-vous with other aircraft,        window for opening of borders,        target time window,        etc.        
This aeronautical information is supplied to the crew in hardcopy form (manual, logs, charts, flight dossiers), or in electronic form by displaying on screens in the cockpit. This dynamic information is more difficult to manage than static information, since it is necessary to extrapolate and to correlate disparate pieces of information. Similarly, some of this information depends on the intended altitude of the aircraft throughout the flight, and here again requires a correlation. For example, the temperature, wind or cloud charts are provided by ranges of altitude; the predicted altitude of the aircraft at a location in its flight plan has to be estimated in order to be able to find the correct chart to be displayed.
In the current operations, the crew filters the information that does not apply and manages the applicable information manually. For example, they correlate the lateral and vertical flight plan information with the weather charts, by calculating at what time the aircraft is likely to enter into a weather area. This work is complex because several weather charts need to be crossed, and the predicted 3D position of the aircraft mentally visualized on these charts together with the time-dependent aspect.
Moreover, dynamic information such as the weather is subject to frequent updates: it needs to each time be mentally re-determined what the predicted weather will be at a given future time.
Similarly, the flight plan may be subject to modifications, here again requiring the calculations to be re-done.
A few initiatives are starting to emerge for managing these problems, either in the CDS (acronym for “Cockpit Display System”), the FMS (acronym for “Flight Management System”) or the EFB (acronym for “Electronic Flight Bag”):
The document US2012/0232785 “Methods and Systems for dynamically providing contextual weather information” discloses a method allowing the aircraft icon to be virtually moved via a marker along the flight plan, i.e. to run the film of the flight in advance. The system determines the corresponding time; it is displayed on the screens according to the method. The rest of the dynamic aeronautical information displayed on the chart corresponds to the information valid at the time in question. This allows coherent information to be displayed, but only in the neighbourhood of the icon being virtually displaced as illustrated in FIG. 1. It can be seen in the figure that the information presented is only exact in the neighbourhood of the aircraft icon which is on the WPT5, since the static chart shown is that corresponding to the time closest to the time predicted for the aircraft icon. Thus, for example, the region Z1 which can in fact be traversed before 23:00 and after 06:00 is declared as accessible, whereas it will no longer be so at the time when the aircraft will arrive there. Similarly, it cannot be seen in the figure that a strong, turbulent, side wind will occur at the point WPT7. This method does not allow:                the information relating to the flight to be assimilated at a glance, in its entirety,        the variation of dynamic aeronautical information to be captured at a given moment; if this information changes and has an impact on the progress of the flight, the crew has to estimate at what time that will take place, and manually moves the aircraft icon in order to try and “find” the moment in time in question.        
The document U.S. Pat. No. 8,332,084 “Four-dimensional weather predictor based on aircraft trajectory” discloses a method for merging spatio-temporal weather information, used to predict the weather along a 3D+time trajectory, the time being predetermined. The system determines the weather in the vicinity of a 4D (3D+time) trajectory. Then, it allows either this trajectory to be refined (by taking into account the correct wind at each point, at the predicted time), or a more optimized trajectory to be found, in the neighbourhood of the initial trajectory, using the predicted wind in a volume around the initial trajectory. This method does not allow a developing situation around the 4D trajectory to be presented in an effective manner since it does not display anything; indeed, the display on the current screens in 2D of a weather “volume” is not possible. It is just a method for calculating the FMS predictions. Moreover, it only takes into account the weather (wind, temperature, humidity, pressure).
The document US2011/0102192 “Displaying weather forecast for own air vehicle” provides a method for displaying the weather forecast on a screen on board the aircraft. The system allows a time period (or a time) to be selected via a input HMI. The display screen then displays the predicted position of the aircraft at the time in question and the weather situation corresponding to the time interval in which this time is situated. This does not allows the changes in dynamic aeronautical information with time to be seen at a given time; if this information changes and impacts the progress of the flight, the crew have to estimate at what time this will occur, to manually input the time in question in order to see both the predicted aircraft icon and the weather around this aircraft icon. There is no coherent display all along the flight path on a single screen.
The document US2011/098871 “Method and apparatus for updating winds aloft display as aircraft altitude changes” describes a method for displaying charts of winds as a function of the altitude, by selection of a rotary switch on the aircraft altitude. This allows the crew to choose altitudes on a display screen; the winds corresponding to the chosen level are then displayed. The time parameter is not integrated into this method. Moreover, the display takes place around the current aircraft and does not take into account the flight plan.
The document by the applicant US2009/0204277 “Method of estimating atmospheric data at any point of a path of an aircraft”) discloses a method for calculating the most likely weather model (wind, pressure, temperature, humidity) at a given point of the flight path, by using a grid of winds and atmospheric models. This allows discrete wind data values to be plotted against atmospheric models, section by section along the flight plan, in order to determine the most probable wind at any point. However, this does not solve the problem consisting in displaying in an effective manner a developing situation around the 4D trajectory, since it calculates the wind at a given point of the trajectory and does not display it elsewhere. It is just a method for calculating FMS predictions.
The document by the applicant US2007/179703 “Process taking into account a local and favourable situation not conforming to a general meteorological forecast” discloses a method for warning of predicted unfavourable wind along a flight plan. The wind is calculated in 4D (on a 3D flight path including the time parameter, in other words the spatio-temporal variation of the wind) allowing the weather (vent, pressure, temperature) to be determined and forecast at any point of a flight plan. This therefore allows the segments of the flight plan to be determined where an unfavourable wind will exist and a diversion to be proposed at these points. However, as before, this does not solve the problem consisting in displaying in an effective manner a developing situation around the 4D trajectory since it predicts the wind at a given 3D point of the trajectory and does not display it elsewhere. It is just a method for calculating FMS or ground predictions.
Other types of information are not shown, with a range of time variation correlated with the predictions along the flight path. The extrapolations of data concerning the flight and their correlation with the predicted flight path are carried out manually.
The methods described in the aforementioned documents allow a correlation to be performed manually and at a given time: the crew chooses a geographical region on their flight plan, and the predicted weather information at this location at this time is displayed. However, this does not give an overall view of the trajectory, and makes the crew perform trial and error operations in order to estimate if a potential problem could exist at a given point.